Webster's Dictionary defines "graduation ceremony" as a springtime ordeal in which you're crowded onto uncomfortable bleacher seats in an overheated gymnasium or stadium and forced to listen to a series of speakers drone on about Webster's Dictionary's definition of "character" or "courage" or "cliché."
In fact, graduation speakers these days so often acknowledge that commencement addresses will be little noted nor long remembered that the meta "I hate commencement speeches" speech is actually a bit of a cliché itself.
Which is why we offer you our Graduation Bingo Card to help you pass the time at any commencement you're forced to attend this spring. Instead of checking your Twitter feed or playing Bejeweled on your phone while waiting for a loved one to get her diploma, just keep track of how many graduation ceremony chestnuts you spot amid all the pomp and circumstance.
Feel free to jump up and shout "Bingo!" if you manage to check off a row or column. Or just blow your air horn.
See the bingo card below, or print out this PDF and take it with you to commencement.
And if you want a closer look at the categories, here's the list that appears in our bingo game with the (sorta) cliches you might hear at commencement.
When you hear speakers quote ...
Maya Angelou
Dr. Seuss
